Classes are shut down for the holidays, so you guys are going to have to answer this one.

Every time I do a "classic" straight armbar, my nuts hurt like hell when I'm arching my back and raising my hips. If my opponent were to really struggle, I'm not sure how long I'd be able to keep that up, or how much pressure I would be able to apply. Any tips on how to avoid the pain?

I pointed at him [the panhandler], bringing my rear hand up in a subtle approximation of the double Wu Sau guard that is the default hand position in Wing Chun Kung Fu.

Classes are shut down for the holidays, so you guys are going to have to answer this one.

Every time I do a "classic" straight armbar, my nuts hurt like hell when I'm arching my back and raising my hips. If my opponent were to really struggle, I'm not sure how long I'd be able to keep that up, or how much pressure I would be able to apply. Any tips on how to avoid the pain?

get closer so that his elbow is on your stomach and not in your crotch

or wear a cup

but if he's one of those freaks of nature that can bend their arm backwards then work on another technique on him

"Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration." -A. Lincoln

There was one guy who came in to try out our school two months ago. When we rolled, I first put him in a paintbrush, and cranked and cranked and cranked... but no tap. I released the hold for fear of hurting him and did an arm bar on his other arm instead, but he never tapped from that either, and I released that too for fear of hurting his elbow. In the end I elected to choke him and got the tap. Asked him about his arm later, and he basically told me that yes, he was a freak with super flexible joints. I hope I never have to face anybody like that in a comp.

I pointed at him [the panhandler], bringing my rear hand up in a subtle approximation of the double Wu Sau guard that is the default hand position in Wing Chun Kung Fu.

The reason you keep the thumb up is because it is harder for your opponent to escape because of how the muscles work. One of the most basic escapes is to rotate your body so that your elbow is bending with the armbar. It is harder to turn your arm a full 180 degrees then ninety and you are not as flexible in this position. Try this.

Place your arm straight out to your side with your thumb facing forward, like you are being armbarred with your thumb pointed up. Now, raise your hand as high as you can straight up, keeping your thumb pointed forward. After you reach the apex, rotate your hand so that the thumb is vertical and try raising your hand farther. It should give you an extra thirty degrees or so.

I always thought that it also had to do with leverage created by stacking the radius and ulna

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"Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration." -A. Lincoln

Well, the arm isn't a bone, it's an anatomical system. Dislocating the elbow--which disables one major function of the arm--effectively renders that system ineffective. Thus completing an arm bar is (in a way) "breaking the arm."